OKARA, Nov 6: Crops on up to 900 acres were inundated after a 50-foot breach in the Gogera Canal near Khighnranwala Canal Rest House, 15 kilometre from here, late on Wednesday.

The gushing waters damaged millions of rupees crops of paddy, maize, potatoe, cotton, sugarcane and fodders in Chaks 24-GD, 18-GD and 25-GD.

Farmers Rana Shakeel, Rana Ijaz Yousaf, Muhammad Raza, Haji Aslam, Rana Azam, Muhammad Afzal, Aslam Gogera, Wali Muhammad Piroka and Iqbal Fauji told Dawn that the breach had not only damaged their crops but would also delay wheat sowing. Irrigation Department officials plugged the breach after 15 hours.

Jehan Khan Lumberdar alleged the irrigation field staff was negligent towards its duty. He demanded that District Coordination Officer Sohail Shahzad and Canal officials take action against the staff. He said hundreds of farmers would go to the DCO demanding compensation.

Capt Safdar: The (federal) government has brought the situation to a point that general elections are seen in near future, says Capt Muhammad Safdar (retired), a PML-N Member of the National Assembly (MNA).

Capt Safdar, also son-in-law of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, said this at a gathering in Shergarh Town on Thursday. PML-N ticket-holder Syed Javed Hasan Kirmani arranged the event.

The MNA called Federal Minister Manzoor Wattoo an opportunist, saying he had benefited the most from the Sharif’s regime but stabbed in the back of then chief minister (late) Ghulam Haider Wyne.

He said President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani were following the policies of former president Pervez Musharraf.

PML-N Punjab President Zulfikar Khosa said (deposed) chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry was the real chief justice and that his government supported lawyers’ movement.

Khosa said Musharraf was responsible for crises the country was presently faced with. PML-Q MPA Chaudhry Nadeem Abbas Rubera and PML-N MPA Mian Yawar Zaman also addressed the gathering.